The mother of a 4-year-old boy who tumbled down a 230-foot cliff at Bodega Head less than two weeks ago on Friday described reaching for her son as he fell, missing his clothing by inches.

“I watched the whole thing,” said Jamie Guglielmino, the mother of Sebastion Johnson, who spoke publicly about the incident for the first time. “I was helpless.”

Sebastion woke up from a medically induced coma earlier this week and is in fair condition at Children’s Hospital Oakland, but his family expects a long recovery for the boy. He suffered shear force trauma, a type of brain injury caused by rapid acceleration or deceleration of the head, similar to shaken-baby syndrome, his mother said.

Doctors have said it’s unclear whether he will have permanent brain damage, she said.

“We don’t know what his mental state is going to be,” Guglielmino said. “He got pretty shook up going down that cliff.”

She said the family has set up an account at GoFundMe to help raise money for Sebastion’s post-recovery care. The fund is called the Sebastion Johnson’s Hope Fund.

Sebastion suffered multiple broken bones and a concussion in the Nov. 10 fall that happened when he was throwing rocks into the ocean with his mother.

He has undergone surgery but will have to return to Children’s Hospital Oakland for continued treatment after he is released in the days or weeks ahead, she said.

She spoke to The Press Democrat for the first time since the accident that happened on a family trip to Bodega Head.

She and her son were standing 3 to 4 feet from the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean when each bent down to pick up rocks to throw, the mother said.

As the boy stood up, he tottered forward and began to fall over the edge, she said.

She anticipated what was going to happen and dove to catch him, but missed his hood by about 6 inches, she said.

Terrified, she watched him “tumble and bounce and roll” down the face of the cliff, she said.

She lost sight of him and assumed he was in the water.

Immediately, she called 911. Her husband and daughter hurried over from another part of the park.

“I was freaking out the whole time, screaming, ‘My baby! My baby!’?” she said.

Firefighters arrived, rappelled down, and hauled the boy back to the top, she said.

He was badly injured with a broken leg, arm, jaw and head injuries. But he was alive.

“He was in the arms of an angel,” she said. “The firemen are angels. He had someone protecting him.”

Guglielmino sat in the ambulance beside her son and rode with him to a Santa Rosa hospital and later to Children’s Hospital Oakland.

She’s been with him ever since. He underwent surgery and woke up from the coma Tuesday.

He’s still not completely awake and is in pain, but is showing signs of recovery. His grandmother has been reading him books, his mother said.

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